How Many More Times
by Kany731
Summary: Carmen Porter, accompanied by siblings Derek and Clara, hunts monsters, searches for her missing family, and deals with her feelings for someone from her past. Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I don't own any characters, settings, etc. mentioned in this story, they are all the property of their rightful owners.
1. Chapter 1

_Bailey, Colorado_

Gary walked into _The Blue Rose_ , a dingy bar at the edge of town. Inside was a typical looking bar with loud music, drunk people, and the slight tang of depression. Looking around he saw several men playing pool in the corner. One guy sitting at table near the entrance was sleeping through the loud music. Some women were sitting at a booth to his left, laughing, obviously drunk. Maybe he would could find someone to have a little fun with. He started to make his way over to the women, but three men came over from the bar with drinks. No good, they were already taken.

 _Oh well, maybe later_. He turned around and headed to the bar. _Hopefully tonight isn't so much of a drag,_ he thought sitting in a bar stool. The bartender headed over, an ugly, pockmarked fifty something old man with too many tattoos to count.

" What can I get you?" he asked in a gruff voice.

" Just a beer," Gary responded.

" What kind?" the bartender asked.

" Surprise me" Gary said. The old man poured him a lager.

" That's $8.50" he said waiting in front of him. Gary handed him a ten.

" Keep the change, he said.

Just as the old man turned around, a blond woman walked over to the bar. She was a pretty little thing wearing a purple tank top, jeans, and boots.

" Give me another shot, Bill" she slurred. She's was swaying a little, letting Gary know she had obviously had one too many drinks that night.

" Haven't you had enough, honey." The bartender asked, looking tired.

"Come on Billy, I just got dumped, gimme one more shot" she said slamming a ten on the counter.

" Please?" she said pouting.

Bill shook his head but poured her another shot. She smiled, took the shot, and left. Gary kept shaking his head, following her with his eyes. She headed to the floor and started to dance, stumbling a little. A couple of times she almost fell but caught herself in time, giggling. Gary turned around to his drink.

"How come the pretty ones always make such bad mistakes," he said talking with Billy the bartender.

"I have no idea what kind of idiot dumped her and lead her to this," he said tilting his head toward the blond. Gary turned around and surveyed the room, no one came over to her which meant she was alone.

 _"_ Maybe someone should get her home," Gary said still talking with Billy.

"Yeah, I'll call her a cab" Billy said turning around. Gary saw her stumble again, he made his way over to where she was holding onto a chair for balance.

" Hey honey," he said putting his hand on her arm. She turned around, her eyes a little unfocused. He could smell the alcohol heavily on her.

" Hey, you," she said giving him a small smile.

" How many drinks have you had tonight?" he asked her.

"I've only had like 3 and some shots," she said counting them off on her fingers, obviously more than 3.

"Maybe you should follow what the bartender said and just go home," he said looking at her, "before something happens to you in a place like this".

"Yeah maybe I should go home now before it gets too late," she said sitting down on the chair, "could you help me get home, it's not far from here."

Gary smiled.

"Sure" he said.

"You're so nice, whoever you are" she said gathering her jacket from the table. She tried to get up but almost fell. Gary grabbed her by the arm, putting his other hand on her waist.

"Its Jacob Newton," he told her.

"Thanks Jacob," she said.

They headed to the door, passing by empty tables and opened it to cool night air. She began mumbling something to herself, almost falling asleep while walking, relying heavily on his support. She didn't notice he was leading her down a dark alley, never letting him know where she lived. He led her to the darkest part of the alley, well out of sight of the street.

" Come on sweetheart," he said holding her up against a wall, "you should know better than to get drunk by yourself. It only makes it easier for things like me to get you. Now, this'll only hurt for a bit," he said as he opened his mouth, growing many needle-sharp teeth.

" Yeah well I hope this'll hurt a lot," she said, all drunkenness gone. She took out a long knife from inside her jacket in a flash, swinging at the vampire. Gary was faster, grabbing her wrist and pinning her against the wall. She was just about to kick him in the groin when "Jacob" gasped and his head separated from his torso. Behind the now falling head of the vampire was a tall, well built, gorgeous hunk of a man with light brown/blond hair, sexy ass lips, and even though he was wearing a simple flannel and pair of jeans she could tell he had a nice body. On any other occasion she would have hit on him in a heartbeat, but he had just killed the vampire she had been following all night.

" What is your problem?" she said bending down to where Jacob, or as she already knew, Gary, was now lying in two pieces. The guy was dead and so was the information she had been planning on getting out of him. She straightened up and walked over to the guy. The guy started to smile, opening his mouth to say something until she punched him in the face. He staggered backward.

" Hey, any other girl would be thanking me for saving them," he said in a deep voice, rubbing his jaw. Up close he had gorgeous green eyes.

" Yeah well you just killed my lead to this guy's nest, you idiot. I've been looking for one of them to come out so I could get some info out of them, and the one chance I get you freaking kill it," she said bending down again, starting to search Gary's body. Nothing was there except some receipts and a couple of twenties. She straightened up, pocketing the money. Hunting didn't really pay very well.

"Who the hell are you anyway, and why did you follow us?" she said crossing her arms in front of her chest. This guy was something else, she had just punched him in the face and he here he was, checking her out. She snapped her fingers in front of his face getting his attention.

" Name's Dean," he said, "me and my brother are investigating the murders that have been happening in this town."

" Yeah well you sure know how to investigate," she said motioning to Gary.

"You do know this guy's only one of several vampires running around this town, right? And now you've not only killed a pretty good lead, but also made sure the nest knows there are hunters in the area" she finished.

She kept looking at Gary's head, rubbing her brow. _Now what am I going to do,_ she thought, _Derek is not going to be very happy about this lead going bust._ She took out her cell phone and speed dialed a number. They needed to work faster now, the nest would notice if Gary didn't turn up in a day or two. Plus, she needed to get out of there fast, the sun would be up soon and people were going to start passing by the alley. It wouldn't look good if she was caught being covered with blood and Gary's beheaded body in the alley behind her.

Someone picked up on the other side of the line. " Hey, I'm in the alley. Yeah I'm fine but the lead is dead. No, someone else took care of him before I could get any info," she said eyeing Dean, "Ok, bye."

She ended the call and looked at him again.

" Look Dean, next time just maim them, you might get more info out of a live monster than a dead one," she said starting to walk off.

Dean didn't take the hint that it was the end of the conversation.

" Hold on, do you need help, cause me and my brother can help track down this guy's nest," he said catching up to her. She kept walking until they got near the entrance to the alley.

" What makes you think we don't know where they are," she said, turning and smiling at him. He looked out of words, opening and closing his mouth.

Finally, he said " You would have wanted him alive if you already knew where his nest was," he said with a triumphant smile. She had to laugh at that.

"Touché."

He continued, "look, everyone makes mistakes and that was an honest one," he said pointing to the body behind him, "can you really blame me, I was just helping out a gorgeous woman being attacked by a monster. What kind of a hunter would that make me?"

She had to smile at that, _God he is so cheesy_ , she thought _._ "That line ever work?" she asked laughing. He smiled back the most gorgeous smile she'd ever seen.

Just then a black F150 stopped in front of them. She kept smiling as she walked over to the truck and opened the door.

"Look, we need to get going and find the nest before the rest of the vampires find out this guy got killed," she said still standing outside the open truck door, revealing a man and another woman inside.

" Me and my brother are staying at a motel a couple of blocks away," he said walking over to the truck and making eye contact with everyone," if we work together hopefully we can take it out without anyone getting killed," he said ending with the blond woman.

She turned around at the other two people in the car, who nodded. " Ok, we'll meet in an hour," she said closing the door. "Here's my number, text me the name and room number," she said writing it on his hand.

"Well can I ask you your name?" he asked looking at the number in his hand.

"It's Carmen," she said as she was getting inside the car. They drove off leaving him behind.

" Who was that tall drink of water?" the other woman asked from the back seat, looking at the now running man.

" His name's Dean," she said smiling.

Settling in for the drive back to their motel, she smiled as she remembered another guy who had helped her thinking she was a damsel in distress.

Leave comments on my story, but please be lenient, this is my first fanfic.


	2. Chapter 2

Back at their motel all three sat down, they needed to talk about who this guy and his brother were and if they could really trust them.

" What do you think, Derek, should we actually meet with them?" Carmen asked," I mean we've handled larger problems than this by ourselves."

Clara chipped in, "Carmen, Dean's right. The more of us there are, the less of a chance someone will get killed."

Derek stood up from the table, and began to pace. Finally, he said, "I don't like partnering with other hunters but if it'll let us take down this nest without one of you getting hurt, then I think it's the best course," he said looking at both Clara and Carmen.

Because Derek was the oldest, in his early thirties, he had become the default leader of the group. Carmen and Clara respected his thoughts and opinions, not only because of his age but of is personality. Although both women knew he was a gentle giant he was tall, with a well-built frame, French creole features, and a quiet strength that commanded respect with everyone he met. He was usually gentle, that is until someone messed with Clara, his younger sister. Carmen looked at her, thinking over what she had just said, she was right, they both were. She finally gave up and began to place her things into her bag. She glanced at Clara who was doing the same. She was about a foot shorter than her brother, with a thin but well-toned body and the same features as her brother. She often got overestimated by her opponents because of her stature, not knowing she could easily take down a guy twice her size. She had the kind of personality that made you like her instantly, all bubbly and girly, coupled with her quick southern accent. They were a very nice pair of siblings to live with, always very protective of each other and those they cared about. You didn't mess with anyone of their friends without getting some kind of bruise or broken bone out of the encounter. That's why she liked the life she had with them. Carmen was not related to them by blood, but they treated her the same as family. Carmen caught sight of herself in the mirror, wiping off a drop of blood from her forehead. She had chocolate brown eyes and shoulder length blond hair. Like Clara, who was a couple of inches shorter, her body had become well-toned and athletic from hunting. They had to be strong, lean, and fast to be able to take down all the monsters they hunted, most who were stronger and faster than humans. Life was very different than it had been a couple of years ago, before she had met them and became a hunter.

"I think it was really lucky we found some more hunters to help us," Clara said, snapping her out of her reverie. Carmen continued placing all their belongings in a duffel bag.

20 minutes later, they arrived at the Siren motel. The dingy motel with the peeling mermaid looked like the typical hotel a hunter sought out to hide. Low profile and out of the way, where no one asked too many questions. They knocked on the door to room 21 and heard a deep voice call out, "Who is it?"

"It's us," said Carmen. The door opened revealing Dean who stuck his head out of the doorway checking that they were alone. "Come in," he said. The trio stepped inside and saw the typical hunter layout. Duffel bags in the corner, take out and guns on the table, and beer everywhere in between.

Carmen notice that Dean was alone. She turned around and said," I thought you said you had a brother."

Dean put his gun away and walked over to the kitchen table.

"He'll be here any minute. He's scouting the other side of town."

Just then they heard a car pull up in front of the room. As soon as he walked through the door Carmen recognized him.

"Sam?" she said with surprise.

Sam look back at Carmen with the same surprised look on his face.

"Carmen, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years." They walked towards each other and gave each other a hug.

Dean looked at them with an annoyed look, "So, you guys know each other?"

"Yeah, I met Carmen a while back. She helped me get through a rough time," Sam said.

Carmen stepped back, thinking back to something Sam had said when they had first met.

"Wait, I thought you said your brother was dead?" she asked Sam. She looked from Sam to Dean and back again.

"It's a long story, trust me you wouldn't believe it even if I told you," Sam said taking off his jacket.

"I agree, we should talk about how we're going to take out this vampire nest," said Derek, finally speaking up. Carmen suddenly remembered that they were also there.

"Sorry, this is Clara and Derek," she said motioning to each. Clara looked amused but Derek was starting to get impatient. They had to get going, time was running out before the other vampires realized that Gary was gone.

Derek stepped up, straightening up to his full height which was a little taller than Sam.

" I think the introductions are done, we need to make a plan, Gary wasn't the only vampire. He's one of a nest that have been hunting around this area. Most of them have kept themselves well hidden, but Gary was one of the few that was getting too needy. He started hunting recklessly which is how we discovered there's a nest," said Derek standing next to Carmen.

"Now that you're up to date, we should make a plan to take out the nest, tonight if possible," he said looking around the room.

"Like Dean said, with your help we can take them out with less of a chance anyone getting hurt," said Derek looking well beyond his years. Just now Carmen realized how protective he was of both Clara and her.

"How many vampires are we looking at?" asked Dean, looking serious," and do you have an idea of where the nest is?"

"Well that's what I was trying to figure out when you killed my only lead," Carmen said, looking matter of factly at Dean. He looked a little put off but Clara stepped up just then, taking out a map from her duffel bag.

" While Carmen was out after Gary I put all of the attacks on this map and found out they have been happening in this general radius," she said pointing at a group of dots on the map.

"We've scouted around the area but we haven't seen anything that really stands out. We do know of three more vampires, but we think there could be more," said Carmen.

"We've had some leads here and there but they've all turned out being busts," said Derek.

"Sammy do you think you could pull up some blueprints on some of the buildings in this area?" said Dean pointing at the map.

"We're looking for a place with a basement or underground floors. Probably somewhere with few houses around and empty buildings," said Sam to the group as he typed his laptop "just give me a couple of hours to hack into the town archives."

Both Clara and Carmen looked at Derek, who nodded. Carmen knew that Derek easily got impatient. It wasn't because he wanted things to go faster, but because the longer they took to take out the nest, the more people that were going to die. That was the way Derek had been since the rest of his family had been killed by monsters, minutes before hunters had found and killed them.

As Sam did research on his computer Clara, Carmen, and Derek walked over to corner to talk.

"Carmen, how reliable are these guys?" Derek asked her.

"Sam's okay. We worked together on a job back in Louisiana. He's actually been hunting for a long time, so he's pretty knowledgeable about all kinds of creatures," she said looking over at Sam.

"Well that's good enough for me," said Clara looking over appreciatively at Sam. Derek turned and gave his little sister a stern look. Clara just gave him a small smile.

Several hours later Sam had found the blueprints to a building that looked promising. This empty warehouse had an underground floor that had a big empty room in the middle with only two entrances, probably where cubicles were spaced out or something. Unfortunately, the sun was going down which meant that the vampires would start leaving the nest to go out to feed. If they attacked now the nest would probably be empty. They decided to wait until the next morning when they were sure all the vampires would be in the nest, sleeping. Derek decided to rent a twin bed room next-door for them to rest and recharge before tonight.

They didn't even bother to unpack or undress. Like always Derek took the couch, Carmen took one bed, and Clara the other. Even though none of them were remotely sleepy, they needed to have at least a couple of hours of rest.

The next afternoon they all readied themselves for the fight; prepping guns, sharpening knives, eating, and loading the cars.

On the way to the building, Carmen, Clara, and Derek tried to make small talk. They all realized that this was going to be the biggest job they'd done so far. The truth was they have never taken out a nest without knowing the full amount of monsters they were facing. Usually they dealt with small groups of three or four monsters, but Derek told them he had a feeling this nest was bigger than the three vampires they had tracked. He told them he thought it might be as high as ten.

Carmen was glad that it was Sam that was joining them. She didn't know too much about Dean, except what Sam had told her. She still didn't understand, if what he said was true, he should be six feet underground. Maybe Sam had another brother because, after all, who could come back from the dead.

They parked a street away from the building. The blueprint showed two entrances that lead to the basement. They were sure that was where the nest was. They would prefer the windowless darkness of the basement. They split up, Sam and Dean taking one of the entrances while Derek's group took the other. They would meet in the middle.

Carmen looked at Derek and Clara, and knew she reflected the same concentrated, determined look they had. Carmen herself felt the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Derek took the front, Clara in the middle, while Carmen covered the rear. The entrance they went in through led into a dark hallway. There were no doors until the end where there were three doors, one on each side of the wall. Each one took a door and silently opened it. Derek motioned with his fingers counting down: _one, two, three._ They all opened their doors, as slowly and silently as they could. Carmen checked out her room but it was clear, she went out into the hallway and waited. Clara came out of her room signaling the all clear but Derek came out signaling this was it. There were dim lights lighting a stairway down to the basement. They turned off their flashlights and started to go down the stairs.

There was no sound coming from the end of the staircase, but Carmen could smell the faint metallic scent of blood.

Now that she was in the room she could hear faint whimpers coming from one side of the room. _The sons of bitches had live pray._ The thought made Carmen's blood boil.

The basement was bigger than they had thought, looking more like a parking garage than a basement. The vampires had obviously been living there for a while. There were couches, and beds, boxes, and tables all around the room. Carmen quickly counted the vampires asleep all around the room. Sure enough there were way more than three vampires in this coven, around ten like Derek had predicted. Most of them were pretty young, no more than twenty. They were all sleeping, no doubt full after a night of hunting. On one of the side of the room were some cages were the vampires were keeping some dirty looking teens, most likely runaways. Carmen looked across the room and saw Sam and Dean come out of another stairwell. Dean motioned to Carmen to close the door.

Carmen, Clara, and Derek looked at each other and motioned that each go to a vampire. They all took out their machetes and stood over one. Derek mouthed: _1,2,3._

Carmen swung down her machete into the neck of the woman on the couch. The vampire let out a small gasp before her head separated from her neck. She looked around at the other vampires but none of them woke up. She looked over to the other side of the basement and noticed that Sam and Dean had also taken out two vampires. _"Okay five down, five more to go,"_ thought Carmen.

Just as they were heading to the next row of vampires, Clara bumped the couch were her vampire had been sleeping. The vampire's head rolled off the couch onto the floor toppling some cans that had been lying there. They all looked at each other, holding their breath but it was no good, the vampires were startled awake. They looked around at all of the hunters with their machetes and got up faster than humanly possible.

One female vampire went straight for Carmen. She tried to swing her machete at her neck but the vampire took a hold of her wrists. She squeezed, making Carmen let go of the machete. The vampire bared her needle like teeth but Carmen head-butted her, taking out her gun and shooting her in the neck, making her stumble back. Carmen saw her falter and took her chance, she picked up her machete and cut off her head with one swing.

She turned around and noticed an enormous man had Clara pinned with her arms to the side. Clara was kicking her captor on his sides but her kicks didn't look like they were making any difference. He had his teeth bared ready to bite down on her when Carmen kicked him in his jewels. He stopped and turned around, still holding Clara. He looked really pissed that she had tried that low ball move. Carmen took out her gun again and shot him three times in the chest but the guy just slowed down. He threw Clara like she was a rag doll. Turning back his attention to Carmen, he swung his hand and knocked out the gun from her hand. She swung her machete and hit him on the shoulder. He stopped, looked at the gash she had created and yelled at her. Carmen tried to run away but he caught her by the hair. He pulled her closer and closed his gigantic hands around her neck, squeezing.

Carmen couldn't breathe. She could see her vision start to tunnel when someone cut his hand off, making him drop her to the floor.

It was Dean.

"You like going after girls, douche bag," he said. The guy was yelling in pain but before he could even so much as lift his other hand, Dean cut his head off. The big guy fell like a rock, his head rolling under a table.

Carmen was still on the ground, on her hands and knees, trying to catch her breath. She could still feel the pressure on her trachea, which didn't let her breathe correctly. She heard some scuffling to the side, and looked over at Sam fighting a young male vampire. Sam was swinging at him but the vampire kept avoiding his swings, taunting him. Then she saw Derek come at the vampire from behind. The vampire turned around just in time for Derek to cut his head off.

"Are you okay," said Dean, helping her stand. Carmen looked up to see him staring at her chest. _Wow, what a gentleman,_ she thought.

"yeah I'm fine," she said pushing him away and starting back into the fight. Dean looked surprised, he started to say something when a crash across the room caught their attention.

Clara was fighting with a smaller male vampire now. She looked pretty roughed up but she was still fighting. She swung her machete at the guy, but he was fast, suddenly behind her. She had slowed down after her fight with the Hulk vampire. He swung his hand, sending her crashing against a wall. She fell to the floor and didn't get up. Suddenly there was a horrifying yell from the other side of the room. Derek was looking at the unconscious form of his sister on the floor, then turned around and ran at the guy. There was something inhuman in the way he moved towards the suddenly fearful vampire who started to walk backward towards one of the doors. Sam blocked that door before he even got close. The vampire seemed to have gotten the point that he was outnumbered. Derek came crashing through furniture and grabbed him by the collar. He was punching the guy unceremoniously, leaving his face almost unrecognizable from all of the blood that was spurting out. Suddenly out of the corner of the room a young woman jumped down on Derek, screaming her head off, scratching his face and trying to bite him on the neck. Sam ran at them both, forgetting the bloodied vampire on the floor who saw his chance and disappeared up the stairway, not caring about leaving the female vampire on her own.

After some struggle, Sam finally got the female vampire off of Derek, who was bleeding from a neck bite and scratches on his face. Claire woke up just in time to see her brother standing a few feet away from her, covered in his own blood, which was flowing from the bite in his neck. She got up and walked over to him, who motioned that he was ok. Carmen inspected the wound and confirmed the vampire had missed any major arteries and his trachea. While she was covering his wound and putting pressure, Claire walked over to where Sam had the female vampire pinned down.

"You're all going to pay for this. He'll come back with a bigger nest and you're all going to die," the vampire screamed at them, showing her teeth.

"Yeah well, we'll be waiting for him," Claire said picking up a machete and chopping her head off.

Carmen surveyed the room, turning to where the people in the cages were, each in varying degrees of dishevelment. She walked around the room looking for something to break the locks when Dean walked over to her.

"Here let me" he said motioning to for her to stand back. He took out his gun and shot the locks. Carmen helped the people get out, all of them looking pale and dirty but alive. Unfortunately, this was something that would haunt them for the rest of their lives and that was something she couldn't help them fight. They helped them walk out in to the street. After helping them come up with a story the police would believe, they gave them a cellphone to call for help and headed back to the motel.

When they were all back at the motel, each picked up a beer and congratulated each other. This had been a pretty successful hunt. No one from their group had died and they had killed almost all of the vampires. They weren't all that worried about the vampire that had gotten away right now, it would take him some time to recover and start another nest. They drank a couple of more beers and began packing up their stuff. Derek, Claire, and Carmen were in the opposite room pacing their stuff when there was a knock at their door. Carmen opened the door, it was Dean.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a moment," he asked her.

"Yeah, sure," she said turning to close the door. Claire had an excited smile on her face and winked at her before she closed the door.

"What do you want to talk about," she asked him, as they rounded the corner of the motel.

He cleared his throat and scowled a little. She wanted to laugh, he was being so serious and mysterious.

"Can you tell me where you got that necklace your wearing?" he said turning to her. She continued smiling and felt for her necklace. It was a small silver coin with some weird language she had never been able to find. It was roughly attached to a hoop that hung on a silver chain. She had had it for years, ever since a boy had given it to her when she was 16. She wrapped her hand around it and looked up at Dean. Suddenly her heart started to beat faster as she looked into his green eyes, the same kind of green as the boy who had saved her all those years ago.

Please leave comments, and let me know if you would like this story to continue.


	3. Chapter 3

_Joliet, Illinois 1995_

Carmen Porter was a 16-year-old teen who lived with her parents and her 8-year-old brother. She was had gotten pretty rebelliousness over the past several months, always getting into trouble. Her friends had influenced her to begin drinking, doing drugs, and acts of promiscuity. On this particular night, she had convinced her parents that she was feeling tired and wanted to sleep early because of finals at school. She was lying, she was actually going with her friends to a party at some college guys house. According to her friends there was going to be a lot of alcohol and lots of older hot guys. As soon as they got there she and her friends started drinking and flirting with a group of older guys. She had gone to get some more beer when a Led Zeppelin song came on. This particular song was one of her favorites and she started to dance and sing along. On one of the chorus parts she turned around and made eye contact with a guy across the room. He was really good looking, even with his cheesy plaid shirt. They kept eye contact and she smiled at him while singing along to the song. He started to walk over, making her heart speed up a little.

"Hey, you know this song," he asked her in a surprisingly deep voice.

"Hell yeah I know this song," she said smiling at him. He was even better looking up close. He was taller than her, well built, golden brown hair, and had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.

"I don't know many girls who like Led Zeppelin," he said.

"Well its nice to meet you then," she said laughing, while extending her hand, "name's Mindy".

He took it, his hands rough, as if he had been working outside for a long time.

"John," he said, smiling also.

For the next hour or so they talked about rock bands and other stuff. They drank a little, flirted, made out, and eventually had a quickie in one of the bedrooms upstairs. She wasn't going to ask him, but she was sure this was his first time, it was too quick of a quickie. He looked a little embarrassed as they pulled up their jeans, but she kissed him and they made out for a little while longer. The embarrassment was forgotten and they went back to the party.

Around four in the morning she decided she should head home, if she stayed any longer her parents would find her sneaking back into the house as they left for work. She tried finding her friends but couldn't so she left, she would see them later anyway. She kissed John good bye, half wishing she could stay longer. This was mainly because she had never seen him before and didn't expect to see him again. This was a small town, and knew everyone in it. She had never seen him before, and had not heard of anyone moving in. He was probably just passing though or visiting someone.

She took a shortcut home through the parking lot the elementary school. She heard something behind her. She turned around but didn't see anything. Suddenly she heard a noise from her left. A gigantic black dog came out of some bushes on the other side of the parking lot. It was looking at her, his tail perfectly still. It suddenly started running toward her. She turned around and started running in the opposite direction looking for something she could use to hit it. She saw a large stick lying on the ground a few feet away when the dog caught up to her, tackling her from behind. She turned around and put her hands up to try to stop him but he bit her arm. She screamed as the dog shook its head. She could feel the muscle start to tear. She grabbed the dog with her other hand and pushed her thumb into its eye socket. The dog yelped and let go of her arm. She backed away from the dog, managing to stand up and run for the stick. The pain made adrenaline start to pump through her as she stood holding the stick. The dog pawed at his eye, shook its head and looked at her again. It began running at her again. She swung the stick and hit him in the side, but the stick broke into pieces.

He swayed a little but the hit hadn't done much damage.

As the dog started running towards her, she readied herself to give it a good kick, thinking that all of the years of martial arts better start to paying off right about now. Suddenly the dog was thrown hard to the side. She looked over to find John standing there holding a gun. She couldn't believe he was there holding a gun. What kind of guy was this. Had he followed her? She shouldn't complain, he was defending her from this animal. He took out a knife as he put the gun away. The dog got up and showed him his teeth, slobbering all over the place. Apparently the gunshot had only increased its anger. It barked and started running at John. He swerved to the side, swinging his knife but the dog was faster. He latched onto John's leg and was shaking his head, ripping his jeans, and the skin underneath it. He took this chance and he plunged the knife in the dog's chest. The dog fell, releasing his hold on John's leg. She was running over to where Johns was when she realized that the dog wasn't a dog anymore, it was a man. She vaguely remembered seeing him at the party. She remembered he had hit on her but she hadn't liked the energy she felt around him, and the crazy look in his eye. He must have followed her there. She stared at the man in shock until she heard John ripping his jeans.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" she asked moving over to where he was.

"Yeah I'm fine, what about you," he said pointing at her bloody arm. He took of his flannel and began ripping it into strips. He first wrapped some around her arm, then she helped him bandage his leg. She was still in shock, as she kept looking over at the naked guy/dog.

She looked at him, "I guess some guys can't take rejection," she said laughing but feeling tears begin to fall from her eyes.

"Don't worry, you're safe and he's dead," he said as he secured the bandage on her arm better. She was beginning to feel the pain now. It surprised her that this didn't seem to be as big of a deal to him as it was to her.

"What was that thing?" she asked looking at the man lying there.

"It's called a skinwalker, I didn't know there was one at the party until he followed you out and transformed," he said.

"Come on we need to get you home he bit you kind of deep. You should probably tell your parents that you need to go to the hospital." She nodded and lead him to her house.

On the way over something clicked in her brain. "Wait, how did you know what that thing was?" she asked looking at him.

He looked at her and gave her a sad smile, "it's a long story but let's just say I grew up dealing with this kind of stuff." She looked at him with surprise and admiration.

"There are more things out there than you would like to know. Most of the monster stories we hear and see in the movies are based on true things, but most people prefer to think they are all made up. It's the whole self-preservation thing," he said.

"So there are more things like him out there?" she asked, while she inspected underneath the makeshift bandages. Now that they had stopped bleeding so much she saw that they really were deep, she could see red, raw muscle. He placed his hand over her bandage.

"You shouldn't do that, it'll only make it start bleeding again," he said.

She didn't know why but the simple act of him holding her arm, and slipping it down to hold her hand, the gentleness he showed her, it made her feel a strange tightness in her chest and stomach, like a cross between when you're about to cry and before you perform in front of an audience. He looked a little nervous as he stared at her. She didn't now why she felt the need to be closer to him, to hug him, to holding him before he left her forever. She didn't understand why she was having these feelings for a random guy she had just met. Finally she just kissed him, but not like the kisses she had given him at the party, this time there were feelings behind them. They kissed for a couple of minutes until he separated them and said she needed to get home. As they turned onto her block, she asked him a question.

"Are you staying in town long?" she asked.

"How did you know I wasn't from around here," he said stopping.

"I know everyone around here and trust me, I wouldn't forget seeing you around," she said.

"I don't know probably only a couple of days, just enough for my dad to find the rest of the pack and kill them," he said. It once again surprised her to know that guy wasn't alone, that there were more like him out there, maybe attacking people she knew.

They finally arrived at her house. John looked at the house. She saw a sad, longing look on his face that was gone in seconds. She wondered if he had a home.

"Well you'd better get to a hospital as soon as you can, you don't want it to get infected," he said looking back at her. _He's so freaking awesome_ , she thought, _how was I lucky enough to meet him._

"Thanks, for everything," she said giving him a small kiss on the lips as she walked up to her house.

Her parents weren't too happy about her midnight outing, but they were more worried about the dog that bit her. They were worried she had rabies or that she would need surgery for her arm. Luckily, she only had a small fracture, and needed some stitches. She would have a cast for some time and miss the last weeks of school but she would be okay.

She was surprise when John showed up at her house three days later. He had waited in the bushes of her back yard until he was sure there was no one at home with her. She had thought he had been long gone. He told her that they had left town the day after she got bit but he wanted to make sure she was okay. She was happy that he had come back to see her, making her feel that same tight feeling in her chest again.

She invited him in but he said he had to go, he said he knew his dad would be mad that he had left in the first place. He took something out of his jacket. It was a small silver coin hanging on a silver chain.

"I wanted to give you this before I left for good. My dad said we're leaving the state and we're leaving tonight," he said. "I made it with a silver coin I stole from my dad, it's supposed to be good luck," he said placing the necklace in her hand. She wanted to cry as she held in in her hand. It had writing on it in a language she had never seen before with only a small cross in the center. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

She looked up and kissed him. For some minutes they stayed like that, then he hugged her and walked back into the bushes. Even though they had only spent that short amount of time, he had unknowingly changed her entire future. She never took the necklace off after that. A lot of other boys came and went in her life, but none of them compared to John.

Please leave comments, and let me know if you would like this story to continue.


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